Database Performance Monitoring

[jkinning]

This is more of a "generic" question but our DBA's are looking at other 3rd party monitoring tools for their databases. The primary focus is on MSSQL and DB2. They have started some initial research and are looking at DPA Solarwinds which apparently they don't care for and Dell's Foglight. They were also asked to check Nagios XI since we purchased the product. I haven't looked too deep into what Nagios XI can or could provide but is it safe to say it could provide database tuning metrics to monitor or would a 3rd party tool be needed in order to provide our DBA's with that information? They are looking for tuning metrics. I am not a DBA but if more information is needed I can get it from them. My understanding is Nagios can monitor just about anything you want it to if you know how to do so manually and you know what you are after. Is that a fair statement?

Is anyone monitoring MSSQL or DB2 with any advanced monitoring features?

[tmcdonald]

My understanding is Nagios can monitor just about anything you want it to if you know how to do so manually and you know what you are after.

I would say this is a fair statement, yes. Nagios can do a lot out of the box, but we also provide the ability to script your own custom checks in case one of the default plugins or wizards does not give the results you are looking for. Combining that with our Exchange gives a lot of options that were made by other people and could be adapted or used outright in your environment.

In terms of providing tuning metrics, Nagios doesn't have a mechanism to look at a check result and say "You should increase your max number of DB connections by 76" or anything like that, since such knowledge is very organization-dependent. However we do have the Capacity Planning component that will serve as a guide for things by showing results over time and extrapolating out.